Tobacco feeding apparatus



March 14, 1939. w. E. MOLINS ET AL TOBAC CO FEEDI NG APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 10, 1936 e m Mm x s b d m 3 M Z 4L ad Z? Zwem 2% kiwi d x @%HM off/1e estate of Wzlierfrered Moi/ks Patented Mar. 14, 1939 TOBACGO- FEEDING APPARATUS Walter Everett Molins; deceased, late of Deptford', London, England, by HaroldBernardo Mclins; Deptford; London; and Moses Hyman Isaacs, London',-England, executors, and-Sydney Alfred Nichols, Deptford, London; England, assigners toMolins- Machine Company, Limited, Deptford, London, England. to

Application"February 10," 1936, Serial No. 63 ,256

In Great Britain March 8, 1935 10 Claims. M

This invention is for improvements'inor' relating to I tobacco feeding "apparatus; and refers toa tobacco: feeding apparatus of the kind-in WhiChIiZtOba'CGO in a hopper is fed from a mass 5 :91 tobacco containedtherein'by a feeding element" tora: carded element and in' which the short tobaccoa whichfalls between'the feeding elementand the carded element or any two elements inth'ei'hopperis co-llected.- Such an apparatus is m referred tolhereinafter as apparatus of'the kind described? 7 According to the present invention there is provided in or for'apparatus of the kind described theccombinationof a conveyor to collect or receive shortztob-acco, means co-operating with the conveyor to maintain the tobacco collected thereb-yitor4receivedthereon substantially in the originalxarrangement or formation in which it is 001- lectedi by or received onthe conveyor'until it is delivered'by or from the conveyor and a support which is movable'in timed relationship with the conveyor; said supportbeing arranged to con-- vey lthe itob-accoto a position at-which it is re-' moved. from thesupport and deflected towards theaplace1towhich it is desired to deliver the tobacco: (en g.,' into the hopper or on to a travelling risurface) Thetconveyor may comprise a relatively smooth travelling surface (e. g.,-' an endless band)- 1 and theLme'ans co operating therewith also may compriseza. travellin'gisurfaceli' The means co-operi atinga with" the conveyor may -comprisea con- I tinuati'on iof the. support and inJ-such a case the travelling surfaces compnsingthe conveyor" and. thei'support, respectively are movable in substan-s tially; L paths, the two Ls being relatively in-' vertedt :with :the. upright limbs co-operating to hold the tobacco therebetween and convey it in the originalarrangement or formation from the.

,baseof one to the base of the other L.

A -guide:elementr or guide elements 'maybe provided to maintain the" co-operating portions. of the bands in close proximity with one another,

andsuchelement or elements may comprise a inember--:or members between or through whichtheco-operating portions of-the bands pass. The

tobacco may be removed from the support by a sweeping device (e. g., a rotatable worm or spiral brush). I 1

0 h Byl way of example one constructionrwill now bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 is a sectional endelevation of to-.

bacco fee'ding mechanism, showingthe invention 55 fi plived thereto. 7

Figure 2 is a section on line 2 2, Figure 1. a Figure 3 is a; section-0n line 3- 3, Figure 2.

Figure 4 shows a modified'formof the inven- 1 tion.

the specification and drawings;

Like references referto like parts throughout Referringto Figures 1 andZQ 'a mass ofto bacco is contained in a hopper 5 and tobacco from-the mass is fed by a feed roller 6, shown in hereinafter referred. to as a combing roller I. The combing" roller carries the tobacco beneath the drawingsas a cardedroller, to a carded roller a brushingrolle'r t arranged to sweep back surpl1'1s -t0bacco from' 'the 'surface of 1 the combing roller; After-passing the brushing roller, the tobacco on the" surfac'e ofthe combing ro-ller i is carried to a point at-which it is picked from 'theI-J surface of the bombing roller by a fast rotating picking ro11er9, which showers the tob-acco'on to the-surface of 'a' distributonelement-iil, which is shown' in the drawings as a distributor roller,

but may; if desired,= comprise anendless band:

The tobacco is picked from the surface of the I distributor roller H! by a fast moving picker roller II and is showered on to the moving surface l2-in a trough l3of a continuous rodcigarett'e makingmachinet Beneath the" feeding roller 6 and combing roller guiding elements I 5 and 'i 5 are provided to guide onto the endless-band short particles of tobacco which fall between the rollers 6 and: l

1 there is arranged an endless-band I4, and

'and/or' the .rollers 'i and iii during the'feeding...

rollers in'amanner such thatit moves through substantiallylani shaped path, ash-can be seen from Figure 2. a

operation. a: The band M is passed around guide Abovetthe floor thereis arranged a further endless 'ba'nd llwhich is arranged as a support for thei'short tobacco whichhas been collected bythe band i l-and is to beldeposited into-the hopperii. The band I1 is passed around suitable be seen, from FigureZ, an inverted L. The portionsilllA --and 11A of the bands Mend l'i'respectively which arethe upright limbs of the Us move in a substantially vertical plane in the con- 1 guiding rollers-rsotthat it follows a substantially 4 L shaped path, but in this case the L is, aswill structio-n shown. 1 These upright limbs of the- Ls arearranged toco-operate with each other to grip the tobacco collected by the band l4 and to conveyrit upwardly so that the collected-toe bacco is delivered on to the supporting surface 7. of the band I]. By this means the short tobacco which is collectedv by orreceived on the vbase of the L formed by the band I4 is delivered to the supporting surface which is constituted by the base of the L formed by the band I"! so that it is maintained substantially in the arrangement in which it was collected upon the band [4.

The co-operating portions MA and HA of the bands [4 and I1 respectively are passed through a guide 3, which guide is, as can be seen from Figure 3, of C cross-section.

By passing the bands through the guide member, the edges of the bands are held together and the guides, together with the tension between the two bands, maintain the tobacco in position between the bands until it is delivered to the supporting surface of the band II. If desired, instead of the guide member being of C crosssection, two guide members of U cross-section may be provided, each of the members being disposed so that the edge portions of the bands pass through the U guides.

Above the surface of the endless band l1, there is arranged a sweeping element I9, shown in the drawings as a worm, and the member l9 sweeps over the surface of the endless band I! and deposits the tobacco on to the surface of the roller 1, the tobacco being guided on to the roller 1 by guide plates 2!! and 22. The plate 22 is arranged so that when a roll of tobacco is in the junction formed by the co-operating surfaces of the rollers I and 8, such for example, as a roll such as that shown and described in British patent specification No. 385,210, the short tobacco is directed on to the surface of the roller 1 so that it is deposited on to the surface of the tobacco on the roller 1, and is thus passed beneath the tobacco roll. In such cases when additional tobacco is taken by the roller 1 from the tobacco roll, the short tobacco is sandwiched between the tobacco taken from the roll of the tobacco carried by the roller I. By forming the sweeping elements as shown in the drawings, it will be seen that the supporting surface of the band 11 is cleaned along its length by reason of the shape of the sweeping element. If desired, instead of the worm shown in the drawings, the sweeping element may comprise a brush which is formed about the spindle 2! of the rotating sweep in a manner such that it forms about the spindle a spiral similar to that formed by the worm I9.

In theconstruction illustrated in the drawings, the worm l9 deflects the tobacco from the supporting surface of the band I! in a manner such that it is thrown on to the guide plates 20 at an angle of approximately 45, and this action tends to throw the tobacco towards the right hand side of the hopper when viewed in Figure 2. This result is brought about due to the fact that the support imparts to the tobacco a force in the direction of movement of the support, whilst the action of the worm [9 tends to impart a force in a direction inclined to the first force. The resultant of these two forces is such that the tobacco is discharged from the support at substantially 45 as above set forth.

If it is desired that the tobacco should be deposited more over the central portion of the roller 1, this may be done by rotating the worm l9 so that it makes two revolutions whilst cleaning a length of the supporting surface, equal to the length of the worm. It follows from the description just given that by suitably arranging the relative speeds of theconveyors l4 and I! on the one hand and the sweeping element on the other hand, the tobacco removed by the sweeping element from the supporting surface can be arbands 14 and ranged so that it is delivered where desired on the surface of the roller 1.

If it is not desired to increase the speed of the worm IS, the same effect may be obtained by inclining the vertical portions MA and HA shown in Figure 2, so that the portion MA forms an 0btuse angle with the horizontal portion of the band I4, and the portion HA forms an acute angle with the horizontal portion of the supporting band H. The rollers around which the supporting surface I! pass would accordingly be moved to the left of Figure 2 so that the Whole of the supporting surface is moved in that direction, and the sweeping element I!) will be correspondingly moved. In this manner the sweeping element may be driven at a speed such that during one revolution of the sweeping element it completely cleans the supporting surface and the tobacco thus removed from the supporting surface is distributed over the desired portion of the roller 1. V

Brushes 23 are provided if it is considered desirable to clean the surface of the support H. The brushes 23 remove portions of tobacco which may be clinging to the surface, after the bulk of the tobacco has been removed by the sweeping device I9 and the tobacco removed by the brushes 23 falls into the hopper. 7

Similarly, brushes'24 can be provided to remove tobacco which adheres to the conveyor M, the tobacco removed by these brushes falling on to the support l'i.

Referring to the modified construction shown in Figure 4, the portions MA and HA of the i1 respectively are passed over guide rollers 22 which cause the co-operating portions MA and HA of the bands to follow a substantially zigzag path. In this case the co operating uprightlimbs of the Us are not rectilinear, and it will be appreciated that the bands may be suitably controlled to follow any desired path so long as the bases of the two Ls are arranged to form surfaces, one upon which the short tobacco is collected or otherwise received and the other from which it is removed whilst the co-operating upright limbs of the Us maintain control of the tobacco during its conveyance. Where in the claims the term L is used to describe the path of the conveyor and/ or supporting surface, it is to be understood that the term includes all the constructions described herein, such for example, as the construction shown in Figures 2 and'4 of the drawings, and the construction in which the co-operating upright limbs of the Us form obtuse and acute angles respectively with the bases of the Ls, the limbs of the Us need not be straight, but can follow any desired path as aforesaid.

In the construction just described, it is not necessary to employ guides such as the guide I8, although if desired, U shaped guides may be provided in conjunction with the guide rollers 22. The guide roller 22 may be adjustable in order suitably to tension the bands. If desired, the guide rollers may be of convex or concave configuration the betterto retain the tobacco between the bands.

It will be seen that by means of the present invention short tobacco is returned to the hopper I at the same rate as that at which it is collected,

since no matter how little or how much short tobacco falls at a given moment, all of that to hopper. The bands l4 and I! may be moved faster or slower according to the amount of short tobacco falling, but the bands move at the same speed in relation to one another.

When the tobacco feeding apparatus is used with a cigarette making machine the linear speed of the bands i l and if may be the same as that of the' cigarette paper web, so that the percentage loss in tobacco in the continuous cigarette rod which would result due to the escape of short tobacco is reduced by means of the present invention by distributing the collected short tobacco. over the surface of the combing roller 1, so that the recovered short tobacco is carried forwardly by the roller 1, by reason of the fact thatthe short tobacco is returned to the hopper atzthe same rate as that at which it falls between the feeding rollers.

Instead of the construction described, the

:bands'EM andll could be arranged to convey the collected short tobacco above and parallel to the axisof the roller It! so that the shorts could be deposited on the roller it, or alternatively, the short tobacco could be conveyed into the chute (which could be'enlarged'for the purpose to the left ofthe picker roller H as seen in Figure 1, so that the shorts could be deposited on to the travelling surface i 2 running along the trough l3 of the cigarette making machine.

q. In both these two last mentioned examples the principle of the relatively inverted L shaped paths of the endless bands can be employed and a spiralsweeping element arranged to remove the tobacco at the desired position. Where the co-operating limbs of the Us are not vertical as in the construction shown in the drawings, the endless belts could pass round suitable conical pulleys or rollers at the junction'between the bases and the co-operating portions of the Ls, so that the surface on which the tobacco is collected and the surface from which the tobacco is removed can be maintained in horizontal planes.

It will be appreciated that the sweeping element I9 is preferably made in the form of a worm or is of spiral formation in order to facilitate the feeding of the tobacco into the correct position by the supporting surface, but if desired, the sweeping element may comprise a deflecting member which is substantially parallel with the axis of rotation of the member, and in such a case the deflecting member would either comprise a single element such as a blade or a narrow brush or a plurality of elements arranged at spaced intervals around the spindle 2|.

What is claimed as the invention and desired to secure by Letters Patent is:-

1. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of a conveyor to receive short tobacco, meanscooperating with said conveyor to maintain said short tobacco on said conveyor in substantially the same formation in which it was received thereon until it is discharged therefrom, said means also constituting a support movable in timed relation with said conveyor and adapted-to receive said short tobacco therefrom and convey said tobacco to a delivery point, and means adjacent said delivery point for removing said tobacco from said support, said last named means comprising a device for sweeping said tobacco laterally from said support.

2. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of a conveyor to receive short tobacco, means cooperating with said conveyor to maintain said short tobacco on said conveyor in substantially the same formation in which it was received thereon until it is discharged therefrom,

said means also constituting a supportmovable in timed relation with said conveyor and adapted to receive said short tobacco therefrom and con'- vey said tobacco in a predetermined path, and

means for discharging downwardly the tobacco thus conveyed so as to distribute the same: in a direction parallel to such path.

3. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of an endless band conveyor to re-'- ceive short tobacco, a second endless band adapted to cooperate with said conveyor to maintain bacco at points along the horizontal portion of said path, a second travelling endless band'having substantially an inverted L-shaped path, vertical runs of said conveyor and said second endless band cooperating to hold said tobacco therebetween and a horizontal run of said second endless band being adapted to receive and convey said tobacco from said conveyor in a predeter mined path, and'means for discharging downwardly the tobacco-thus conveyed soas to dis-'" tribute the'same in a direction parallel to such path.

5. Apparatus for use in cigarette tobacco shred feeding machines, wherein short tobacco separates from the fed tobacco during the feeding operation, comprising the combination with a conveyor receiving the separated short tobacco, of means cooperating with said conveyor to maintain said short tobacco on said conveyor in substantially the same formation in which it was received thereon until it is discharged therefrom, said means also constituting a support movable in timed relation with said conveyor and adapted to receive said short tobacco therefrom and convey said short tobacco to a delivery point, and means adjacent said delivery point for distributing the short tobacco upon the longer fed tobacco in the machine.

6. Apparatusfor use in cigarette tobacco shred feeding machines, wherein short tobacco separates from the fed tobacco during the feeding operation, comprising the combination with a conveyor receiving the separated short tobacco, of means cooperating with said conveyor to maintain said short tobacco on said conveyor in substantially the same formation in which it was received thereon until it is discharged therefrom, said means also constituting a support movable in timed relation with said conveyor and adapted to receive said short tobacco therefrom and convey said short tobacco to a delivery point, and means adjacent said delivery point for distributing the short tobacco upon the longer fed tobacco in the machine and transversely of the direction of feed of the longer tobacco.

7. Apparatus for use in cigarette tobacco shred feeding machines, wherein short tobacco separates from the fed tobacco during the feeding operation, comprising the combination with an endless band conveyor to receive the separated short tobacco, of a second endless band adapted to cooperate with said conveyor to maintain said short tobacco thereon, said second endless band tobacco upon the longer fed tobacco in the machine.

8. Apparatus for use in cigarette tobacco shred feeding machines of the type employing a carded conveyor on which a tobacco carpet is formed,

,and wherein short tobacco is separated out during the formation of such carpet, comprising the combination with a conveyor receiving the separated short tobacco, of means cooperating with said conveyor to maintain said short tobacco on said conveyor in substantially the same formation in which it was received thereon until it is discharged therefrom, said means also constituting a support movable in timed relation with said conveyor and adapted to receive said short tobacco therefrom and convey said short tobacco to a delivery point, and means adjacent said delivery point for distributing the short tobacco upon the said tobacco carpet.

9. Apparatus for use in cigarette tobacco shred feeding machines of the type employing a carded conveyor on which a tobacco carpet is formed, and wherein short tobacco is separated out during the formation of such carpet, comprising the combination with a conveyor receiving the separated short tobacco, of means cooperating with said conveyor to maintain said short tobacco on said conveyor in substantially the same formation in which it was received thereon until it is discharged therefrom, said means also constitut ing a support movable in timed relation with said conveyor and adapted to receive said short tobacco therefrom and convey said short tobacco in a predetermined path, and means for discharging downwardly the short tobacco thus conveyed so as to distribute the same on the tobacco carpet transversely of the direction of movement of the carpet.

10. Apparatus for use in cigarette tobacco shred feeding machines, wherein short tobacco separates from the fed tobacco during the feeding operation, comprising the combination with an endless band conveyor having a substantially L-shape path and adapted to receive the separated short tobacco at points along the horizontal portion of said path, of a second travelling endless band having substantially an inverted L-shaped path, vertical runs of said conveyor and said second endless band cooperating to hold said short tobacco therebetween and a horizontal run of said second endless band being adapted to receive and convey said short tobacco from said conveyor to a delivery point, and means adjacent said delivery point for distributing the short tobacco upon the longer fed tobacco in the machine.

HAROLD BERNARDO MOLINS, MOSES I-IYMAN ISAACS, Executors of the Estate of Walter Everett M olins,

Deceased.

SYDNEY ALFRED NICHOLS. 

